Trigeminal Neuralgia (Facial Nerve Pain) Glossary of Terms

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Abnormal: Outside the expected norm, or uncharacteristic of a particular patient.

Anemia: The condition of having a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells or quantity ...

Anesthetic: A substance that causes lack of feeling or awareness, dulling pain to permit s...

Anxiety: A feeling of apprehension and fear, characterized by physical symptoms such as pa...

Aplastic anemia: Anemia due to failure of the bone marrow to produce red and white blood c...

Artery: A vessel that carries blood high in oxygen content away from the heart to the far...

Atypical: Unusual, or not fitting a single diagnostic
category.

Baseline: Information or data gathered at the beginning of a period from which variations ...

Biochemical: Relating to biochemistry, the application of the tools and concepts of chemis...

Brain: The portion of the central nervous system that is located within the skull. It func...

Brain tumor: A benign or malignant growth in the brain. Primary brain tumors initially for...

Cell: The basic structural and functional unit of any living thing. Each cell is a small c...

Cheek: The side of the face, which forms the side wall of the mouth. The cheekbone is part...

Cluster: In epidemiology, an aggregation of cases of a disease or another health-related c...

Compression: 1. The act of pressing together. As in a compression fracture, nerve c...

CT scan: Computerized tomography scan. Pictures of structures within the body created by a...

Decompression: 1. In general, the removal of pressure.
2. In surgery, ...

Dehydration: Excessive loss of body water. Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract that ca...

Demyelination: A degenerative process that erodes away the myelin sheath that normally pr...

Depression: An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and that affects the way...

Diagnosis: 1 The nature of a disease; the identification of an illness. 2 A ...

Dizziness: Painless head discomfort with many possible causes including disturbances of ...

Emergency department: The department of a hospital responsible for the provision of medica...

Essential: In medicine, of unknown cause, as in essential hypertension (high blood pressur...

Facial nerve: The facial nerve is the seventh cranial nerve. It is a mixed nerve that has...

Headache: A pain in the head with the pain being above the eyes or the ears, behind the he...

Infection: The invasion and multiplication of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, an...

Jaw: The movable junction of the bones below the mouth (the mandible) and the bone just ab...

Laboratory: A place for doing tests and research procedures, and for preparing chemicals a...

Malnutrition: A term used to refer to any condition in which the body does not receive eno...

Microvascular: Pertaining to the microvasculature, the portion of the vasculature of the b...

MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging.

Multiple sclerosis: A disease that is characterized by loss of myelin (demyelinization). A...

Muscle: Muscle is the tissue of the body which primarily functions as a source of power. T...

Nausea: Stomach queasiness, the urge to vomit. Nausea can be brought on by many causes, in...

Nerve: A bundle of fibers that uses electrical and chemical signals to transmit sensory an...

Nerve cell: See: Neuron.

Neuralgia: Pain along the course of a nerve.

Neurological: Having to do with the nerves or the nervous system as, for example, a neurol...

Neurosurgeon: A physician who specializes in surgery on the brain and other parts of the n...

Nose: The external midline projection from the face. The purpose of the nose is to warm, c...

Ophthalmic: Pertaining to the eye. For example, an ophthalmic ointment is designed for the...

Pain: An unpleasant sensation that can range from mild, localized discomfort to agony. Pa...

Pain management: The process of providing medical care that alleviates or reduces pain. Mi...

Pharmacy: A location where prescription medications are sold. A pharmacy is constantly sup...

Rash: Breaking out (eruption) of the skin. A rash can be caused by an underlying medical c...

Remedy: Something that consistently helps treat or cure a disease.

Rule out: Term used in medicine, meaning to eliminate or exclude something from considera...

Scan: As a noun, the data or image obtained from the examination of organs or regions of...

Sclerosis: Localized hardening of skin. Sclerosis is generally caused by underlying diseas...

Sensory: Relating to sensation, to the perception of a stimulus, to the voyage made by inc...

Skull: The skull is a collection of bones which encase the brain and give form to the hea...

Sleep: The body's rest cycle.

Spasm: A brief, automatic jerking movement. A muscle spasm can be quite painful, with the ...

Steroid: One of a large group of chemical substances classified by a specific carbon struc...

Suicidal: Pertaining to suicide. the taking of ones own life. As in a suicidal gesture, su...

Surgeon: A physician who treats disease, injury, or deformity via operative or manual meth...

Surgery: The branch of medicine that employs operations in the treatment of disease or inj...

Syndrome: A combination of symptoms and signs that together represent a disease process.

Therapy: The treatment of disease. Therapy is synonymous with treatment.

Throat: The throat is the anterior (front) portion of the neck beginning at the back of th...

Tic: A repetitive movement that is difficult, if not impossible, to control. Tics can af...

Tic douloureux: A synonym for trigeminal neuralgia. From the French, meaning literally a p...

Trigeminal nerve: The chief nerve of sensation for the face, which is also the motor nerve...

Trigeminal neuralgia: Also called tic douloureux. Inflammation of the trigeminal nerve (th...

Trigger: Something that either sets off a disease in people who are genetically predispose...

Tumor: An abnormal mass of tissue. Tumors are a classic sign of inflammation, and can be ...

Urine: Liquid waste produced by the kidneys. Urine is a clear, transparent fluid that norm...

Vessel: A tube in the body that carries fluids. Examples of vessels are blood vessels and ...

Weight loss: Weight loss is a decrease in body weight resulting from either voluntary (die...